Rotorua parents Wiremu Tango and Tearren Nanjan with their son, Malakai Tango. Photo / Supplied
Rotorua parents Tearren Nanjan and Wiremu Tango thought their 3-month-old son Malakai had the flu when he had a runny nose, a cough and wasn’t eating.
A week later, the family were being airlifted to Auckland’s Starship children’s hospital for a life-saving operation after Malakai was diagnosed with meningococcal meningitis.
“Without the operation, he definitely would have died,” Nanjan told the Rotorua Daily Post.
Meningococcal disease is a life-threatening bacterial infection that can lead to meningitis (an infection of the membranes that cover the brain) and/or septicaemia (blood poisoning).
Symptoms can be difficult to diagnose, but can become deadly within a few hours.
Survivors often have serious long-term effects, including amputation and hearing loss.
Nanjan said she took Malakai to Rotorua Hospital in March 2024 when his flu-like symptoms were worsening.
“They sent us home saying he was dehydrated, which sucked because I feel like if they looked into it properly, they could have helped faster.”
Nanjan and Tango gave him Pedialyte for hydration.
“He was just sleeping all day. He was really floppy.”
When she checked on him on one occasion, “he was shaking, and his eyes were just going like behind his head”.
“We didn’t know what it was. I didn’t realise it was a seizure at the time.”
They took Malakai back to Rotorua Hospital three days after their initial visit.
She said it took doctors almost two hours to stop the seizure.
“It was scary because that was my first baby. I didn’t know what the heck was happening.”
Nanjan said a lumbar puncture confirmed Malakai had meningitis, and staff apologised “for not getting on to it the first time we came”.
A scan revealed the disease had spread to his brain.
“Straight away, as soon as we got the results, they told us a helicopter was coming, and we were gone within 30 minutes.”
Nanjan said Malakai needed an operation that involved cutting two slits on the top of his head to drain infected pus from his brain. It took four to five hours.
A subsequent scan showed the operation had been a success.
She said the first three days in hospital were “probably the worst” and she had many questions and concerns.
“I didn’t think he was going to make it.”
The family stayed at the Ronald McDonald House for two weeks while Malakai was in the hospital.
Nanjan said Malakai “bounced back” quickly and by the end of the first week, he was laughing again.
But that wasn’t the end of their ordeal.
Post-operation, Tango was concerned because “we were squeaking a toy and he wouldn’t look”.
They learned Malakai was “profoundly deaf in both ears” – a result of meningitis.
“I didn’t really know what that meant at the time, so I just started to cry … “ Nanjan said.
“I just didn’t know what a life being deaf would look like … ”
Nanjan said The Hearing House charity talked them through their options – Malakai remaining deaf and using sign language or getting cochlear implants.
Malakai got the implants when he was 4 months old, and Nanjan said he was “hearing really well”.
”I’m glad we went through with it because I want to see him do that and see him laugh and be able to talk.
“He’s really responsive to music – he dances when he hears the songs … ”
The family were also learning sign language.
She felt it was “so unfair” that he became deaf after what he went through.
However, she said: “We’re so lucky that that was the only issue coming out of having the meningitis. It could have been a lot worse.”
Malakai, aged 2, now has a 1-year-old brother, Noah.
A statement from Health New Zealand group director of operations of Rotorua Hospital, Alan Wilson, said having a child in hospital could be distressing.
“Our hearts go out to this whānau. We are genuinely sorry that they may have concerns about their loved one’s care.”
Wilson said meningitis was a serious condition that could develop and worsen very quickly, though this would not lessen the distress the situation may have caused the whānau.
“We will contact the whānau to talk through the care we provided and to answer any questions.”
Nanjan and her mother-in-law, Suini Apo, are doing the 85km Kilometres for Kids walking challenge next month to raise funds for Starship.
Nanjan said Apo had been “a big help in this journey” and took two months off work to ensure Malakai was okay.
“I didn’t know about how much help Starship gave until it was our turn. We had so much support, comfort, reassurance … ”
She did the challenge last year to raise awareness and raised $600.
This year, “if I can get $500 or more, I think I’ll be pretty stoked”, she said.
“I’m just so grateful that there’s people out there that have the ability to help … Malakai literally wouldn’t be here.”
The Kilometres for Kids website said funds raised would go towards the Starship air ambulance, which flew sick and injured children from anywhere in Aotearoa to Starship Hospital.
The Starship Foundation said Starship had the country’s only dedicated paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and its national air ambulance and PICU flight team were on call 24/7.
Challenge participants could run, walk, or cycle their chosen distance.
The challenge is free to enter. Registrations and donations can be made online.
Megan Wilson is a health and general news reporter for the Bay of Plenty Times and the Rotorua Daily Post. She has been a journalist since 2021.